Fortunes continue to fade for Atlantic City casinos

Atlantic City continued its tailspin, with casino revenue falling 1.4 percent in June and 4 percent for the first half of the year.

The decline was expected, given the beating the 11 casinos have taken from competing slot parlors in Pennsylvania and New York. The question was only by how much.

In all, the casinos reported $419.8 million in revenue in June. Slot machine revenue dropped 4.9 percent, to $303 million. But revenue from table games, which are not offered in rivaling states, surged 6.9 percent, to $116.8 million.

The casinos have reported year-over-year declines every month except for March, when revenue rose only 1.9 percent. Although casino executives had held out hope for a strong summer showing, they have conceded in recent weeks that 2007 will likely go down as the first year in the resort's history revenue will decline.